The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to spatial listen before talk.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or a New Radio (NR) system). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or access network nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
In order to avoid interfering with ongoing transmissions, a wireless device (e.g., a base station) may perform a listen before talk procedure before attempting to transmit. For example, the wireless device may measure the energy level on the transmission channel before attempting to transmit. If the energy level is above a threshold value, the wireless device may determine that another device is already transmitting on the transmission channel and will refrain from transmitting. If the energy level is below the threshold value, the wireless device may determine that no other device is transmitting on the transmission channel and that the transmission channel is available. The wireless device may then initiate a transmission.